


Two Views from a Wind-swept Plain

by BardicRaven



Category: EDS "Cat Herders" (Commercial)
Genre: Cat Herding, Gen, Herding Cats, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 00:27:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13135350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BardicRaven/pseuds/BardicRaven
Summary: The time of the Great Gathering was upon them all - human and cat alike.Here's some of what happens during it.





	Two Views from a Wind-swept Plain

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ionthesparrow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ionthesparrow/gifts).



#  **Felis**

Mara gave a contented rumble of a purr as she settled into her nest for the evening. Safely hidden in the tall grass, she allowed herself to relax. The humans would be coming tomorrow and she wanted to be ready for them.

The time of the Great Gathering was coming - the time when the humans would come and gather all the cats that lived on the plain there - and others that were brought in for the purr-pose. She wasn't really sure why this happened - noone really knew, not evven the oldest queen and tom on the plain knew why the humans came and did this every year - but it was a big deal to them, that was known.

Humans would bring treats and other bribes to get the cats to go with them as opposed to another human or set of humans. There would be pettings and gifts of prey and that strange herb that cats either loved or loathed, but seldom ignored.

A wise cat took advantage of this time of plenty - after all, the humans only wanted you to gather in a group and run together for a while, and they paid well for the privilege.

But that didn't mean that they would do it for just anyone. They were still cats after all, and cats had their purr-ide. And their stubbornness and their sense of what was appropriate treatment for one such as themselves.

There were plenty of humans who thought they could gain a herd by force or by false kindness. They soon learned the error of their ways. The cats would scatter and/or hide when such a one as they showed up and they wouldn't come out until that one had gone far away.

Mara had been accosted by that kind before - left some with red stripes to remind them of better manners, had hid from others. But she had also met with the good kinds - the ones who used gentle words, long, slow eye-blinks, soft strokes that brought out the purr in her. Ones who offered her good meat and that white liquid she loved so much, but had yet to find outside of the Great Gatherings.

As she fell asleep, she hoped that she would be found by one of the good ones on the morrow.

:>O<:

* * *

 

#  **Hominibus**

Jack poked up the fire, being careful to make sure it was all in the cleared fire-ring. A stray spark could ignite this prairie in a heartbeat - all long grass, warm with a September's sun.

Satisfied with his work, he sat down, made himself as comfortable on the hard ground as he could. Smiled a little to himself as he looked out at the beauty of the setting sun, the grasses being thrown into silhouette by the coming night.

It was beautiful out here. That was part of why he came here, year after year. Not the only part - he had to admit the prize money he won here helped with the bills back home - his and his folks’. But as much as he came for the money, he returned for the beauty.

He'd gotten good at what he did over the years. He'd learned how to talk to the cats, how to convince them that his herd was the one to join. He rewarded them and, in turn, they rewarded him. He'd gotten to be a consistent winner over the years and now, everyone, human and cat alike wanted to join his team.

The cats he accepted. The humans... sometimes, but less often. There were too many people coming out here simply for the money - no respect for the prairie, for themselves, for the cats. They would try to herd the cats by force and, in return, the cats would mark them with the signs of their displeasure - red wounds across faces, hands, any part of them that wasn't covered by denim and leather.

He held no sympathy for those humans. He'd give them supplies to clean themselves up with - but that was as much or more because he didn't want the event to get a bad name as anything else.

It helped the humans who came here and it helped the cats who lived here. Strays from every part of the country, here they had a chance. Here, they were safe from being casually put to death as a nuisance. Here, they had the chance to live out their lives while giving the humans who herded them a good living and the people who watched a good show.

Of course it was televised. Usually on the obscure channels, but not always. And, once the tech had appeared, there was a bonus for any herder willing to wear a camera and allow their stream to be delivered straight to the Internet. And there were those who took them up on it.

Jack didn't - as much as he would have loved the extra money, he felt it disrespectful - to himself, to the cats.

As the fire died down and the sunset faded, Jack settled into his bedroll.

Tomorrow would be a big day.

:>O<:

* * *

 

#  **Felis**

Mara woke the next day, rose, stretched - fore, aft - and set out to see what she would see. There were sounds of humans stirring already - she quietly went from camp to camp, seeing who was there, if any of them were 'her' human.

The next day Mara rose, stretched, fore, aft, then settled in for a proper bath. It wouldn't do to look less than her best for what was to come. There were some cats who took no pride in their appearance - Mara was not one of them. Privately, she wondered why the humans even bothered with those scruffy rejects, but hers was not to wonder why.

Hers was to find herself a human she wanted to work with and see what they had to bring.

There were sounds of humans stirring already - she quietly went from camp to camp, seeing who was there, if any of them were 'her' human.

Several humans called to her, several offered things, tasty things - meat, milk - but none caught her attention the way 'her' human had so after a polite rub against a handy body-part, she moved on.

On the outskirts of the human camps, she finally found him. By himself, as he nearly always was, he was still wrapped up in his human coverings. She never quite understood the point of all these extra wrappings that humans insisted on covering themselves with - after all, why didn't they just grow themselves a decent coat of furr and be done with it? - but did find them soft and comfortable to curl up in when the humans weren't looking.

But right now, it was time for first-meal, and there was 'her' human, still asleep. She walked over to him, jumped on his body, and started meowing.

:>O<:

* * *

 

#  **Hominibus**

"What the...?!" Jack startled awake, as the cat jumped off, duty done. The cat walked around to face him and it was then that he recognized her - black-and-tan, with one tan-mottled hind foot,, white whiskers showing against a black shirt-front, and enough cattitude for several cats.

Despite the rudeness of his awakening, he reached down and petted her as she liked best - a gentle-but-firm neck-to-tail that left her rumbling her happiness under his hand and making milk-paws against his blankets.

"Well, hello, there," he said as he petted, noting that she'd been keeping herself well - her coat was sleek and well-kept, despite the fact that she lived wild for most of the year.

She meowed back a greeting, rubbing herself enthusiastically against whatever parts of him she could reach before walking a few paces away, sitting down in Bast pose, and meowing firmly.

He laughed threw back his blankets, and rose, doing his own stretches before going to his supplies and filling a bowl with milk and another with meat, then setting both down in front of her.

She promptly tucked in, settling down into a focused meatloaf shape, concentrating on wrapping herself around the good food as quickly as possible.

He laughed, pleased at her acceptance of his gifts. "You going to run with me today, little one?" he asked. He wasn't certain, but he was pretty sure that the cats understood him at least somewhat.

She looked up at him, meowed once, and went back to her food.

"I'll take that as a 'yes', then," he said, as he dressed and got ready for the day to come.

:>O<:

* * *

 

#  **Felis**

Well of course she was going to run with him today, Mara thought. Didn't she always? Silly human. But they did seem to like their reassurances. Certainly he'd begun his own grooming procedures once she'd meowed at him. Strange how the humans insisted on making those noises rather than communicating by posture and scent the way cats did, but they did, so Mara went along with it.

He seemed to like it when she responded when he made noises at her, so she'd made her own language with him. This meow meant 'of course I'm running with you at the Great Gathering' and that one meant 'feed me my tribute-catch!' and this other one she simply used to tell him that she liked him.

He understood about eyeblinks too - remarkably purr-ceptive for a human, one of the reasons that she chose him year after year - and they'd exchanged many of them over the years.

But for now, it was time to finish up, bath, and get ready for the Great Gathering.

After she'd eaten her treats and given herself a proper post-meal bath, Mara headed back out to the plains. Her human had once again proved himself worthy and she needed to go spread the word.

:>O<:

* * *

 

#  **Hominibus**

'See you later, pretty-kitty-girl," he called out after her. He hoped she would be back again, hopefully with a herd of her friends, as she'd done before, but, like all cats, there was an air of mystery about her, and no telling what she'd do this time.

And it didn't really matter. It was time to go out and begin, no matter what she chose to do.

He packed up his bedding, his camp, saddled his horse, prepared to ride.

It would be a long day.

:>O<:

* * *

 

#  **Felis**

A meow here, a lick there, a sharp cuff in another place, and Mara got her group together and headed back for the human's camp.

He was there, with the large brown thing he got on already there, draped with all the things that humans draped on them. Mara had no idea how or why the large brown beasts put up with it, but they did.

A sharp meow got her human’s attention. He showed his teeeth in that way that humans did – apparently when they were happy.

“You came back! And look at all your friends. Thank you!”

She meowed matter-of-factly and rubbed herself against his leg before sitting in her best Bast pose and meowing again.

The man looked at this thing on his wrist, then up at the sky. “Oh, you’re right. We’d better get going.” With that, he swung himself up on the big brown animal. Before he could do anything more, she leaped up, scrabbling the last few inches by climbring the material of his leg-coverings.

“Oh!” the man exclaimed. “You’d like to ride up here today?” As she settled in firmly, he shrugged and picked up the strings that were attached to the brown animal’s mouth. “Okay, well, let’s go.”

:>O<:

* * *

 

#  **Hominibus**

While he was surprised at the cat’s choosing to ride with him, she turned out to be a good companion for the day. She mostly stayed in the saddle with him, jumping down sometimes to run with her fellow cats, or gather a ffew of the ones that looked like they might be heading off on their own.

It was a long day, but at the end of it, they had a good group of cats running in front of and around them. When it came time for the tally, he was not in first place, but, when the bonus for having a solo Gathering was factored in, he easily leapt to the top of the scorings.

“And I once again have you to thank for it,” he scritched the black-and-tan queen along her whiskers. She made a noise that, if he hadn’t been convinced it was unlikely, he would have interpreted as smug satisfaction.

They set up the evening camp – this point, all the people gathered together, there being no more point to seclusion and besides, there were Bragging Rights to be had and Drinks to be Drunk.

The queen kept close by him all that night, something she’d never done before. And, the next day, when the other cats began to disperse, fading back into the plains-grass from which they’d come, she stayed.

Finally, he was packed up and ready to go. He turned to the black-and-tan queen, bent down, gave her a good scritch-and-pet, before standing up and saying ‘Well, I guess that’s it until next year. Good Hunting.”

And then he found himself with an armful of cat as she leapt up into his arms and stayed there, purring loudly.

“Oh!” He blinked. “You mean, you’d rather come home with me.” A quick lick on the face seemed to confirm his words. “All right. If you’d like. I can’t say that I won’t be happy – I always wonder how you are, if you’ll still be here. I’d like to give you a home since you’d like to come.”

And she settled even more firmly into his arms as he went to see about getting her a cat carrier and all the things she’d need to have a good home with a human.

Seemed like his luck was going to be coming home with him this year.

And that made it the best Gathering yet.

:>O<:

* * *

 


End file.
